Originally posted by FMFDo you mean "plight"? It is the grey squirrel that is the perceived "blight", surely.

...well the grey squirrels are a blight, so while the title might shortcut things a bit, its a much more economical way of saying " the grey squirrel is a blight on the existence and plight of the red squirrel in the uk"

Originally posted by kmax87...well the grey squirrels are a blight, so while the title might shortcut things a bit, its a much more economical way of saying " the grey squirrel is a blight on the existence and plight of the red squirrel in the uk"

Originally posted by trev33http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-13802612

"We are monitoring the situation but would ask for the public to remain vigilant"

stay strong people... poor little squirrels :'(

"The disease is carried by the non-native grey squirrel which is immune to its effects. Infected red squirrels die within 15 days of contracting the virus. "

poor little bastards don't stand a chance.

its a real pity, they are gorgeous, i used to see them regularly when i was a kid just at the back of my moms house, but they have become rarer and rarer. On a positive note i have a 'nest', of bees in my basement, they come in through an 'air brick', which we call it if you know anything about building. Essentially a vent, this is the second year that they have resided with us, of which i am very happy, given their plight.

I originally posted this comment in spirituality as a subject of debate, but it received no attention. It was a quotation from Al Gore, in which he stated that the present environmental crisis, is for want of a better term, a moral issue. Perhaps debates can make something of it.

The more deeply I search for the roots of the global environmental crisis, the more I'm convinced that it is the outer manifestation of an inner crisis that is, for the lack of a better word, spiritual.

Al Gore (1992, 98)

I have come to realise that what Mr Gore probable meant was moral, a moral issue, which is akin to spirituality, in some sense.

Originally posted by kmax87...well the grey squirrels are a blight, so while the title might shortcut things a bit, its a much more economical way of saying " the grey squirrel is a blight on the existence and plight of the red squirrel in the uk"

I remember a few years ago in one of the left-of-centre British newspapers reading a semi-humorous column in response to "the plight of the red squirrel" and the consequent widespread hostility to the grey. The writer opined that this was just another regrettable manifestation of xenophobic hostility to an immigrant population, and that squirrels with different coloured fur should be made as welcome in Britain as men and women with different coloured skin.

More seriously, while the grey squirrel has largely displaced the red in England, there are still reasonably substantial population of red squirrels in Scotland and in the Republic of Ireland, and on the Eurasian continent the red squirrel's range extends from Northern Portugal to the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Russian Far East and Hokkaido in Northern Japan. Worldwide, the species' conservation status is "Least Concern".

Originally posted by TeinosukeI remember a few years ago in one of the left-of-centre British newspapers reading a semi-humorous column in response to "the plight of the red squirrel" and the consequent widespread hostility to the grey. The writer opined that this was just another regrettable manifestation of xenophobic hostility to an immigrant population, and that squirrels with diff ...[text shortened]... okkaido in Northern Japan. Worldwide, the species' conservation status is "Least Concern".